Greetings from the Resuscitation Training Center Team!
Many organizations require its members to achieve a base line level of competency in knowledge, skills, and abilities in order to perform required duties, meet industry standards, and ensure high levels or patient and employee safety. Dependent upon the nature of work and expected skill set, employees and students of UMMC are required to learn basic CPR or advanced resuscitation skills for adult and pediatric populations. While the majority of our trainees at the Resuscitation Training Center (RTC) are required by some credentialing body to obtain these certifications, we are routinely contacted by community organizations that are interested in learning the life saving knowledge and skills that our courses provide.
If you are not familiar with the RTC and the folks on the third floor of the SOM, we are a service-oriented organization tasked with providing American Heart Association (AHA) certification opportunities to employees, students, and community members. In addition to certification courses, we engage employee populations in their work environments with training modules specific to the unit/area needs. In situ training modules range from unexpected tests of systemic performance to gradual learning opportunities culminating in a high risk/low frequency training event for which the population has been “preparing.”
While community members are able to register for training on campus, RTC team members and affiliated instructors go into the community to provide services as well. Community trainings range from Basic Life Support certification courses to simple, yet effective, “hands-only” CPR modules and other non-certification trainings like pediatric cpr/choking modules for expectant mothers and basic first aid for linemen. We are constantly exploring opportunities for community partnerships and awareness opportunities.
With expanded course offerings and a motivated cadre of instructors, RTC training numbers have grown from approximately 4,000 trainees in FY20 to 8,000 trainees in FY23. This Fall brings Advanced Stroke Life Support to specific UMMC populations and we are exploring the possibility of adding Prehospital Trauma Life Support and Advanced Burn Life Support in the future.
Our instructors come from a wide range of disciplines and include nurses, paramedics, EMTs, physicians, respiratory therapists, faculty members from various schools, medical students, and retired community members. If you are interested in pursuing AHA instructor status, AHA certification, or any of our training opportunities, please contact us by email RTC@umc.edu. To register for a course, please go to www.ummc.enrollware.com.
We look forward to training with you soon!